Meanwhile, school districts continue working on their budgets

Friday, July 14, 2017

Local school districts are preparing budgets and planning operations for next school year as they await a Kansas Supreme Court decision on a new school funding bill.

Superintendents at USD 234 in Fort Scott and USD 235 in Uniontown said their districts are expected to receive additional funding through Senate Bill 19, legislation passed by the Kansas Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback in June.

“If it stays put, we would get a reasonable increase based upon restoring some aspects of the old per-pupil formula,” USD 234 Superintendent Bob Beckham said.

According to numbers the district received from Deputy Commissioner of Education Dale Dennis, USD 234 would receive about $500,000 for the 2017-18 school year, which Beckham said is “significant.”

New USD 235 Superintendent Bret Howard, who started his job July 1, and former interim superintendent Jan Hedges said the district would get about $175,000 in additional funding, according to KSDE figures.

“It’s estimated to be about $175,000 in new money,” Howard said.

Beckham said additional funding would be used to address district needs, including teachers and staff.

“The needs are great,” he said. “Our number one resource is our people, so it’s primarily to make sure that we appropriately compensate our staff members in their next contract. Then we have a litany of things; buses, roofs, curriculum supplies, maintenance of technology. It goes pretty fast. The emphasis is on people who are the biggest difference makers in student achievement.”

Beckham said he supports the new school finance plan, which is now in front of the Kansas Supreme Court. The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the new school finance system July 18 in order to determine whether the legislation should be allowed to proceed.

“This is the first time in my three-year tenure to not get cut but actually more than previous,” he said.

Howard said new money would be used for staff, to address increased costs for employee health insurance, and to strengthen at-risk programs.